Two UC Berkeley School of Information students redesigned the BART kiosk interface using Flex 3 an Arduino and AS3Glue.
A Better BART Kiosk Interface
bartkiosk.com
A Better BART Kiosk Interface
1–10 of 35 posts
Re: A Better BART Kiosk Interface
#2Despite being told it wasn't a touchscreen I tried to click on individual stations on the map multiple times. People are focused on the station they want to go to; if you show it to them, it's going to be staticky for them to figure out they have to focus on something else.
Re: A Better BART Kiosk Interface
#3This is an impressive design. The partitioning of decisions into paged chunks, and the associated visual representation of that space makes destination entry easy. Common choices appear early on in the system ("get me to the airport"), and decisions have appropriate defaults ("purchase multiple tickets" automatically adds another then presents options to add or remove tickets). I've always been attracted to good information design, and this is some sweet candy.
Poor design in large organizations (BART) generally comes from the top, but BART would be lucky to get off their laurels and use this design.
Re: A Better BART Kiosk Interface
#4Despite being told it wasn't a touchscreen I tried to click on individual stations on the map multiple times. People are focused on the station they want to go to; if you show it to them, it's going to be staticky for them to figure out they have to focus on something else.
The user interaction analysis on the page points out that people in transit stations don't have the same preconception about interface. In a noisy, dirty, worn out environment, people presented with a durable looking machine with shiny labeled buttons tend to use the buttons and not the screen.
Re: A Better BART Kiosk Interface
#5Assuming the cost isn't too great, I hope BART will collaborate with these two to develop and benchmark some new interfaces. This prototype is a brilliant way of presenting the information.
And even though the time savings seems small, I always think of it multiplied across the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of tickets sold each year, and how much time is lost collectively. Making these mundane interactions even a little bit faster provides some huge benefits (in addition to reducing frustration).
Re: A Better BART Kiosk Interface
#6The BART kiosk interface is terrible. Not only do you have to look up the fare and transfer on a fucking spreadsheet posted on the wall, it doesn't actually tell you when to put the money in.
Simply putting giant text that says INSERT MONEY OR CREDIT/DEBIT CARD FIRST on the home screen would be a HUGE improvement.
Re: A Better BART Kiosk Interface
#7As someone not familiar with the Boston area, I found I really missed having a "you are here" indicator when it came time to select my destination. I became disoriented and worried about traveling too far, even though I "knew" I was just playing with a web mockup.
Re: A Better BART Kiosk Interface
#8I've always wondered whether it was an intentional feature of the BART machines that they focus on the cash value on a card rather than the trip cost. Underpaying isn't allowed--the gates at your destination won't let you leave--and overpaying puts petty change into the BART's coffers when you forget about/lose/toss the card.
Re: A Better BART Kiosk Interface
#9As someone not familiar with the Boston area, I found I really missed having a "you are here" indicator when it came time to select my destination. I became disoriented and worried about traveling too far, even though I "knew" I was just playing with a web mockup.
I didn't know BART went all the way to Boston!
Re: A Better BART Kiosk Interface
#10Presenting the "macros" of SFO/OAK (local airports) is a great idea. Unlike commuters, airport-goers are probably more episodic in their usage of the bart system, so they're looking to purchase a ticket of a specific value for that specific trip, instead of the "large value" ticket they will use over many days. They also may be less familiar with the route map and ticketing system, so more hand-holding is a good thing. And of course, these stops are among the most popular destinations.
Another disproportionately popular destination is whatever stop is adjacent to the current major sporting event. During a Warriors game, for example, you'll see the trains loaded with people wearing jerseys and team colors that all flood out at the Oakland Arena.
So, the addition of dynamic main-screen macros like
"Go to the Warriors Game"
.. based on some local events feed and present during the appropriate hours, would be slick...